The historic Dodson Hotel on Main Street in Walnut Cove was torn down early Sunday morning.

A crowd of spectators gathered downtown to watch from a safe distance while a trackhoe slowly nibbled away at the hotel walls. The demolition began around 6 a.m., and it took about an hour and a half for the walls of the structure to be knocked down. A portion of Main Street was blocked off during part of the teardown.

Mayor Lynn Lewis said as the demolition began, “It’s sad to see it torn down, but it’s progress, too.”

“A lot of history there coming down,” noted Walnut Cove Commissioner Elwood Mabe. “It’s a prime example of when you don’t have maintenance on a building, what happens to one. Sad to see.”

Kim Ferrell, chairperson of the Walnut Cove Small Town Main Street Committee, said, “(It’s) one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen, when you think back to when it started and all it has seen and people’s lives who lived there.”

She would like to see the history of the hotel preserved somehow, maybe in the form of a small memorial at the site. “Just some type of memorial that this building stood here for 101 years,” she said.

Town staff said they were pleased with how the demolition progressed. Other than a few stray bricks in the roadway, the structure debris was confined to the hotel lot. Dust from the demolition crept down the street to the spectators a few times.

It could take about a week for the rubble to be sorted and hauled off the property. Town officials said they hope to save as much of the brick as possible.

The town is now preparing for an auction on June 15 of the items formerly located in the hotel.